Durban - Estelle Taylor’s life was as normal as the next person’s until she tried to vote during last year’s election and discovered she was “dead”.
Independent Electoral Commission officials who had scanned the 42-year-old Newlands East woman’s ID at her voting station told her that she had been declared dead by Home Affairs.
“I just burst into tears,” the unemployed mother-of-two said. “I had no idea how this had happened and why. They told me I could not vote and I had to go to Home Affairs to sort it out.”
Taylor said that when she went to the Home Affairs offices in Umgeni Road, an official told her that she had “died in Soweto”and been declared dead in December 2013.
“I have never been to Soweto or know anyone there,” she said on Thursday.
Despite being unemployed, she was made to pay R140 to make an application for a new identity document - she still had a copy of her old identity document - and claims that officials said that if she wanted to find out who declared her dead, she would have to pay an extra R75.
“I did not even have the money for a new ID, but to sort out my life I borrowed the money to get a new ID.”
More than a year after applying, Taylor has still not received a new ID and her life remains in limbo because she cannot apply for a job or open a bank account.
She said she was given a letter from Home Affairs stating that she was not dead but most institutions did not accept it and insisted on a valid ID.
“Wherever I go they say they cannot accept it because I am declared dead on the system. My life has come to a stop and I cannot move forward because of an error on Home Affairs’ part and now, because they are not giving me my new ID.
“Whenever I go to the offices to find out if my new ID has arrived they tell me that I must wait for an SMS to tell me when I must come,” she said.
Tersia Hanekom, Home Affairs district manager for eThekwini, promised to investigate why Taylor’s new ID was taking long.
She said that if a person was declared dead by Home Affairs but was not, the department would investigate to determine whether or not there were any criminal motives behind the declaration.
“Sometimes we have people, some of whom are foreigners, who try to assume the identity of a dead person and other times a person is declared dead because of insurance fraud. We need to investigate why a person was declared dead and this process usually takes about six months.
“I will look into this case to see why it has taken a year and we will definitely help this lady get the ID she needs so she can move on with her life.”
Daily News